Bihar - Politics

Politics

See also: Political parties in Bihar, Elections in Bihar and List of politicians from Bihar

The first Bihar governments in 1937 and 1946 were led by Sri Krishna Sinha and Anugrah Narayan Sinha, who were men of unimpeachable integrity and great public spirit. They ran an exemplary government in Bihar.

Subsequently, Bihar gained an anti-establishment image and it was often projected as prone to low discipline and anarchy. Caste-based politics came to the fore, with power initially being in the hands of the Bhumihar, Rajput, Kayastha and Brahmin communities. For two decades, the Indian National Congress governed the state hand-in-glove with the central government of Indira Gandhi. It was at this time that Chandrashekhar Singh became chief minister and politicians such as Satyendra Narain Sinha deserted Congress for the Janata Party due to ideological differences. There were occasional breaks in Congress governance, as in 1977. In between, the socialist movement tried to break the stranglehold of the status quo under the leadership of Mahamaya Prasad Sinha and Karpoori Thakur. This did not flourish, partly due to the impractical idealism of these leaders and partly due to the machinations of the central leaders of the Congress Party who felt threatened by a large politically-aware state.

Janata Dal came to power in the state in 1990 on the back of its victory at the national stage in 1989. Lalu Prasad Yadav became Chief Minister after defeating Ram Sundar Das, a former chief minister from the Janata Party and a protege of upper caste Janata stalwarts. Yadav gained support among the masses through a series of popular and populist measures. Principled socialists such as Nitish Kumar disassociated themselves from Yadav, who by 1995 was both chief minister and president of his party, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD). Yadav was later subject to various charges of corruptions and he quit the post of chief minister. He appointed his wife in his place and ruled through proxy. In this period, the administration deteriorated quickly.

By 2004, 14 years after Yadav's victory, The Economist magazine said that "Bihar become a byword for the worst of India, of widespread and inescapable poverty, of corrupt politicians indistinguishable from mafia-dons they patronize, caste-ridden social order that has retained the worst feudal cruelties". In 2005, the World Bank believed that issues faced by the state were "enormous" because of "persistent poverty, complex social stratification, unsatisfactory infrastructure and weak governance".

In 2005, as disaffection mounted, the RJD was voted out of power and replaced by a coalition headed by his former ally, Nitish Kumar. People of North Bihar have been peacefully fighting for separate state of Mithila. Bhojpuri and Maghee dominated politicians have only provided lips service to North Bihar(Tirhut or Mithila). At the time of Independence of India in 1947, economy of Uttar Bihar was developing at the same rate as other states. There were several sugar mills and Jute Mills. Maharaja Kameswar Singh, was a leading industrialist. By 1980, all sugar mills were either closed or marginalized. Flood is a major problem of Uttar Bihar. Indian government need to work with government of Nepal, to construct dams inside Nepal to control flood. Bihari CMs have failed to highlight flood control issue with the central government. People are losing life, home, crops, animals year after year but Bihari politicians are indifferent. People, who have left Mithila, for jobs to other states and countries are noticing the difference and causes of underdevelopment and massive unemployment. They all are united in this struggle of creation of a separate state of Mithila. Currently, there are two main political formations: the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) which comprises Janata Dal, Bharatiya Janata Party and the RJD-led coalition which also has the Indian National Congress. There are myriad other political formations. Ram Vilas Paswan led Lok Janshakti Party is a constituent of the UPA at the center. The Communist Party of India had a strong presence in Bihar at one time, but is weakened now. The CPM and Forward Bloc have a minor presence, along with the other extreme Left.

In the 2010 state elections Bihar's current Chief Minister Nitish Kumar-led government won 206 seats out of 243 seats. In contrast to prior governments, which had played on divisions of caste and religion, Kumar's governance has been based on economic development, curbs on crime and corruption and greater social equality for all sections of society. Since 2010, the government has confiscated the properties of corrupt officials and redeployed them as schools buildings. Simultaneously they introduced Bihar Special Court Act to curb crime. It has also legislated for a two-hour break on Fridays, including lunch, to enable Muslim employees to pray and thus cut down on post-lunch absenteeism by them.